“My job has recently been transferred from the UK to an Asian country. With the move from my established position to a new challenging role in a new environment, I suddenly found myself lacking my usual level of confidence...”

Positive Voice Blog

Recently, i've been talking a lot about general technique because 4 of my clients have just finished my 12 week course in British accent coaching and the last few lessons are all about general technique. Three of these clients were native English speakers with regional accents and one was a non-native speaker with a Spanish accent. You may think that these would require very different techniques. In fact, the goal is the same for them all; the voice needs to resonate less in the mouth and more in the cavities in the back of the mouth and throat. Yes, they all have different strengths and weaknesses, but the Vocal Workout exercises are generally the same.

People with regional accents often under-use the muscles in the jaw and so do speakers with non-native accents. Both non-native and regional accents often resonate too strongly in the mouth, yet people with regional accents are often accused of mumbling; each individual has a slightly different challenge, but the solution is more or less the same.

For instance, each time the tip of the tongue comes forwards to touch the tooth ridge, this must be countered by tightening the corners of the mouth and bringing them in slightly (i often refer to this as 'stifling a smile').

Last week, i recorded an Instagram video on this topic; you may find it useful: